Deadman Walking
by AlainnRain
Summary: It's strange how you don't realize how much you've ingrained someone into your life until they're gone. The village of Konoha found this to be true the day Uzumaki Naruto's light was put out. Now the Nine-tails is still showing no signs of reforming and the Leaf Village has hired a trio of unclaimed ninja to help retrieve Sasuke from Orochimaru. Slash fic. Rated T for now.
1. Prolog: No Sunshine When He's Gone

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. I do, however, own the plot to this story and Hikari.

**Summery:** It's strange how you don't realize how much you've ingrained someone into your life until they're gone. The village of Konoha found this to be true the day Uzumaki Naruto's light was put out. Now the Nine-tails is still showing no signs of reforming and the Leaf Village has hired a trio of unclaimed ninja to help retrieve Sasuke from Orochimaru, but the subtle similarities between the groups leader and Naruto are startling and Kakashi doesn't know how long he can handle this partnership before he finally loses his sanity.

**Rating:** T for now

_ A large amount of Konaha's residents were gathered for the event. Some had been close to the blonde boy no longer with them, while many others had merely seen him in passing every now and again in the village. No one felt it possible that this was happening. 'How _could_ this have happened?' Naruto had always been an unstoppable ray of light, and unconsciously people had begun to see him as a permanent fixture in Konaha. None of them could believe he was suddenly gone. How could someone who never gave up suddenly be plucked from their lives as easily as one would pick an apple? Not one of them had seen the village's future lacking the loud mouthed ninja. It was unimaginable, even to those who had hated him for the fox he contained._

_ Those who knew him cried for the boy who had worn his heart on his sleeve, and those that did not cried for the empty space in their lives they hadn't even realized he had been filling. The ceremony was over before long and people began to trickle away after leaving a flower or two. Soon Kakashi, Iruka, Konohomaru, and Lady Tsunade were the only ones left; all of them thinking the same thing. _This wasn't supposed to happen. _Naruto was never supposed to die. Tsunade was silent as she kissed the tips of her fingers and pressed them to the stone before walking slowly away. The weight of loss stooping her shoulders once again. Konohomaru sniffed and rubbed his eyes before straightening, a determination entering his expression. "I'll make you proud Boss!" he promised. "I'll be the best Hokage this village has ever had! I Promise!" He then stalked off towards the Konaha training grounds, intending to make good on his word._

_ It was down to two when the rain began to fall. The two sensei Naruto had adored. With all but Kakashi gone Iruka's expressionless mask slipped. A harsh sob escaped his mouth and his legs gave out. Startled, Kakashi caught him. Sinking to his knees underneath the weight. Iruka continued to sob not caring if Kakashi thought him weak. Holding the heartbroken man as he wailed Kakashi felt his own tears slip silently from his mismatched eyes down to his rapidly dampening mask. His chest ached and he couldn't help but wonder if he'd finally found the death that would kill him with grief. He tightened his hold on the brunette in his arms and bowed his head, giving in to the emotions that tore at him. Neither of them sensed the audience they had... _

_ Nearby, a pair of eyes watched the scene undetected. Eyelids slipped closed to cover the pain filled brown. He had expected the brown haired mans reaction to be sorrowful, but he hadn't realized it would be so gut wrenching for the man. But there was no turning back now, and the man would surely get over Naruto's death quickly enough. He, like everyone else, would forget the blonde boy soon he was sure. With a last look at the now rain drenched pair, the figure turned silently and vanished from the Village Hidden in the Leaves._

**A/N: **Let me know what you think? This will probably be a long story. Though, I'm not sure how long yet. I'm just going to see where it takes me. Please be constructive with criticism. I appreciate errors being pointed out so I can fix them, but I'd prefer it not come in the form of mean words.


	2. Four Years Past

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. I do, however, own the plot to this story and Hikari.

**Summery:** It's strange how you don't realize how much you've ingrained someone into your life until they're gone. The village of Konoha found this to be true the day Uzumaki Naruto's light was put out. Now the Nine-tails is still showing no signs of reforming and the Leaf Village has hired a trio of unclaimed ninja to help retrieve Sasuke from Orochimaru, but the subtle similarities between the groups leader and Naruto are startling and Kakashi doesn't know how long he can handle this partnership before he finally loses his sanity.

**Rating:** T for now

**A flash of light.**

_The sounds of battle echo in his ear. Bodies clashing in attempts to maim._

**Another flash.**

_Sakura's scream vibrates through his senses. _

**A third flash.**

_A horrifying silence at the bodies littering the former battleground._

**A fourth flash.**

_Blonde hair, usually sunlit in color, now matted with dirt and blood. Pleas for him to "just hold on. Just a little longer. Just hold on."_

**A final flash.**

_A bloodied mouth lifts at the corners one last time. A final exhaled breath. Deep blue eyes that used to sparkle with life, now sightless and empty. Pale hands, soaked in blood, shake violently. Anguish. Horror. Pure, unbridled agony_

Hatake Kakashi sat straight up in bed with a pained gasp. In the dim light he could make out the crimson of blood on his hands before a blink of his eyes showed clean pale skin. Four years. Four years and it still hurt so much that his chest ached. The dreams (or rather nightmares) were always agony; more so than living out his days because at least then he had distractions. Sometimes, the ache was bad enough that he couldn't breath. He'd never really been one for panicking; always the calm and collected one. Now, if he allowed himself too much time to think about everyday life, about the absence of a loud, grinning blonde, anxiety gripped him tight and wouldn't let go.

He let out a breath and rubbed his hand tiredly over his mask covered face. He forced himself to vacate his bed, shower, and leave his dark apartment. Making his way to the cemetery was almost instinctive, he had managed to avoid it for the last week by keeping himself busy, but now his feet led him there of their own consent. Shortly he found himself standing over a smooth headstone adorned with fresh cherry blossoms. Most likely left by Tsunade or Sakura earlier that morning.

It still didn't quite feel real. It felt like he should be heading to the bridge to meet his team and have two voices yell in unison that whatever excuse he had for being late was a lie... but it was real. The name carved into the stone at his feet was proof of how real this nightmare was. Kneeling down, he brushed his fingers over the name.

_Uzumaki Naruto_

"Sorry I haven't been around..." he said quietly.

The day of the funeral was ingrained in his memory. It had been dark and overcast, as if the sky itself was acknowledging that an incarnate beam of sunshine had been put out. Kakashi had thought it fitting. Sunlight on a terrible day like that would have been a mockery. When it started to rain it was even more befitting.

While watching the funeral, Kakashi never would have expected it to end with him holding Iruka while they both cried over their student, but it had. If there was anyone who understood how Kakashi felt, it was Iruka. Kakashi would admit that when he'd first met Iruka he had thought the man was an overbearing mother hen. After Naruto died, though, the silver haired man realized that Iruka had a reason to be so overprotective. If only he could've taken some cues from the brunette and been more protective then maybe Naruto would still be running around the village in that obnoxious way of his.

Kakashi sighed and looked around the sunlit grounds. There had been a time when he had spent hours in front of Rin and Obito's grave. Now, he would visit them briefly before spending the majority of his time with Naruto's headstone.

He still couldn't believe it had happened so fast. He turned his head for a split second and heard Sakura scream. That blood chilling scream that still haunted his mind.

Turning back, he had seen her fighting her way to a bloody, orange clad body laying prone on the ground. The battle had ended as quickly as possible after that as he, Sakura, and Sasuke had gone into a heightened mode of fighting. Desperate to end the battle and reach their fallen comrade...

It had been too late. Too late for even the Biju Naruto carried to provide help. Naruto's personal chakra was gone, leaving nothing for the fox he housed to work with, and he quickly bled out with various weapons sticking out of his rapidly paling skin.

The silver haired Jōnin sat down, leaning his back against the head stone and resting his arms on his raised knees. He would probably be here for a while so it was no use standing.

"The effort to bring Sasuke back isn't going too well." He finally murmured as his fingers played with a blade of grass, "You remember I told you he ran off to Orochimaru in search of power after you..." He trailed off and cleared his throat before continuing.

"After you left... I don't know how to bring him back and convince him to stay. Sakura doesn't either, but she's trying. He almost killed her the last time we made contact and yet she still hasn't given up. I think you may have rubbed off on her. Then there's Sai... Well, Sai doesn't seem to care." The silver haired ninja gave a half hearted chuckle." I don't think Sai actually cares about anything, really... Except maybe his art. I did tell you about Sai didn't I? He was assigned to our team as your stand in, but most of us are fairly certain Danzo assigned him to spy on Sasuke. Tsunade-sama and few others believe he was under orders to kill Sasuke if he tried to leave Konoha, but those ninja of Orochimaru's made things complicated... Sai, Lee, and several others, were injured and almost died. It's been years and we're still no closer. I know I'm repeating myself, but I suppose it's good that I do, since you never really paid attention to what I said anyway."

A small smile tugged at his lips beneath his mask as he remembered how annoyed he used to get when Naruto made him continuously repeat his words. "I feel like you would have been able to get through to Sasuke. Mostly because you were too bull headed to give up and even Sasuke couldn't have refused you... Not forever, at least."

For a moment Kakashi closed his eyes, "I miss you... I'd do so many things different if I could go back, and the first one would be to spend more time on your training. If I had focused on your abilities as much as I had on Sasukes then this stone wouldn't be here."

Guilt caused his heart to clench painfully in his chest. This was all his fault. He had never been able to protect the people he cared about, but Naruto was supposed to be the exception. Naruto was supposed to be the one that lived, the one that _He_ was supposed to truly and honestly protect. For once he was going to have someone he wouldn't let down and then in the blink of an eye Naruto was gone. He was gone and Kakashi had, again, let down and lost a person most precious to him.

One hand grabbed at his chest in a sorry attempt to dull the pain pulsing there. Leaning forward Kakashi choked down the emotions threatening to escape. Gripping his vest in a fist he clenched his teeth. He couldn't do this right now; he needed to pull himself together he was meant to meet Sai and Sakura a while ago. Kakashi took a deep breath and loosened the harsh grip his fingers had on his clothes before pushing himself to his feet.

Later he would wallow, but for the next several hours he was a Jōnin of Konoha and he couldn't afford to make mistakes because of distractions. Turning away, Kakashi forced himself to make his way to his team. It took only a few minutes to reach the designated meeting spot for Team Kakashi. Sakura and Sai were both leaning silently against the bridge railing. Feeling his presence they both turn to him.

"Hatake-san." Sai greets with his eyes scrunched from a creepy, fake smile paired with a voice that made his skin crawl.

Sakura, though, looked ready to throttle him. Emotions flickered furiously over the pink haired girls face before she settled for glowering at the silver eyed man. "You're late Sensei! Tsunade-sama sent for us hours ago!" She snapped angrily, "And you would have known that if you'd been here like you were supposed to!" Kakashi kept his face blank despite the mask covering the lower half of his face. Making everyone wait should make him feel bad, he knew, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He, also, couldn't help but think how wrong that first sentence sounded without a second voice chiming in. Crossing her arms tensely the green eyed Kunoichi stalked past him. "Let's go. Tsunade-sama is waiting for us." Kakashi didn't respond as he followed Sai, hooking his thumbs into his pockets, while they both walked behind the fuming Sakura.

Quickly making their way to the Hokage tower they let Shizune hurriedly usher them into a non-descriptive room, with a single desk in the otherwise empty space, before firmly closing the door behind them. The three Leaf Ninja immediately noticed three unexpected figures standing to the side, their stances relaxed, though their arms were folded across their chests. A slender girl with white hair pulled back into a braided ponytail, with a delicate oval face, pert little nose, and pretty pink lips stood to the right of the little group. Her feline like, bright purple eyes observed the new group with a smirking curiosity.

On the far left was a face Kakashi's team knew rather well. Sabaku no Gaara stood with the characteristic blank look adorning his pale face. His blood red hair was longer than when they last saw him, falling wildly over his forehead to just above his sea-foam colored eyes, though, the small kanji scarred into his skin was still visible. One other noticeable difference in the stoic teen, Kakashi noted, was his aura. The young man would never be someone you wanted to mess with, but he no longer made you feel like you were waiting on a psychotic episode. He still felt dangerous, still alert, but there was a languid ease in both his aura and his stance. Kakashi couldn't help but wonder what had caused such a drastic change.

Pushing the thoughts to the side, Konoha's Copy Ninja directed his attention to the boy standing slightly in-front of the other two. Dressed in all black, semi-loose clothing with a fishnet shirt underneath the rolled up sleeves of his jacket, the teen carried an obvious authority in his stance. The boy had black hair peaking out underneath a black bandana, warm brown eyes complimented by a strong jaw line, and lightly tanned skin. Leanly muscular and standing at roughly the same height as the red headed Sand Nin, the brown eyed teen watched the group quietly. Despite his stillness Kakashi detected an animal-like grace that seemed to pour off of him. Something about the black haired teen was setting off alarm bells in his head, though he couldn't pinpoint what it was...

"Kakashi, Sakura, Sai glad you finally decided to join us." Tsunade said dryly. "before we start; this discussion isn't to leave this room, understood?"

The blonde woman waited for the collective 'Hai, Hokage-sama's' before continuing.

"This," she nodded to the group on her left, "is the trio known as The Ōkami. I have hired them to help bring Sasuke back to Konoha."

Waiting for a response the Hokage stopped and everything was silent...

"What!" Sakura finally yelped. "Sensei! We are perfectly capable of bringing Sasuke back! Why would you hire some random group of rouge ninjas to do something we can do ourselves! There was no need for you to hire thes⎯"

"Enough, Sakura!" Tsunade interrupted with a glare,"Obviously we _do_ need their help since you and your team have been unsuccessful thus far!" She gave a heavy sigh, bracing her hands against the desk. "We're out of time, Sakura. The counsel has given us two weeks to bring Sasuke back before they label him a Rouge Nin and start sending out ninja with the intent to kill. This is our last chance and these three are the best at live retrieval. They are good at what they do, and I'm not asking you to step aside. I'm asking you to trust that I'm doing what I think is best and that working with this group is the greatest chance we have at not only bringing the damn Uchiha back to Konoha, but keeping him alive as well! Now," Tsunade met her students green eyes intently, "will you trust me?"

Sakura gapped at her Hokage before closing her mouth to look guiltily at the floor. "I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama. I do trust you."

Konoha's Hokage observed her silently for a moment before nodding, "Good. I need every person in this room to cooperate fully if we are going to pull this off." She made eye contact with each of the six ninja in turn. Picking up two folders she handed them off to Kakashi and the boy in black, "This is all the intel we have on Sasuke's current whereabouts. Use a concealment seal on it when you're done. I'll let you introduce yourselves and come up with a mission strategy. This is an A-ranked mission, and I expect to be kept updated on your plans. I will tolerate absolutely no fighting between the six of you. Understood?" She asked, though they all knew it wasn't a question.

Once the two teams responded with their understandings, Tsunade along with Shizune took their leave for other business.

Tension was thick in the air as the two trios sized each other up. After a long moment it was the girl with the amethyst eyes who broke the silence, "I'm Hikari." She purred with an easy smirk, "I'm guessing... By the looks you gave Gaara, that you're already acquainted with him. And this," she said bumping her hip against the boy in black. "Is Ryu."

Sakura was the one to respond, waving her hands towards her teammates, "The creepy one is Sai, I'm Sakura," She paused briefly, shooting a glare to the older man next to her, "and the Masked Master of Lateness, is Kakashi Sensei." In any other situation Kakashi would have rolled his eyes, a smirk hidden behind his mask, but he wasn't comfortable with this situation. No matter what Tsunade said, he knew this mission was going to have some kinks...

A voice broke through the Copy Nin's thoughts, "We should look over the files first, and then discuss strategy."

Kakashi's grey eye met Ryu's Brown eyes; it was the first thing the boy had said in the time they'd been there. He had a low, slightly raspy voice, but it wasn't unpleasant to hear. The rasp was surprisingly soothing in a way, but Kakashi could tell that it would deepen a little bit more before it stopped changing. A thought of what Naruto would have sounded like when he was older flashed through his head before he pushed it away. Nodding his agreement to the raven haired teen, Kakashi turned to his team holding the file out just enough that the three of them could all see.

Motion caught his eye and he saw the three teens situate themselves against the wall. Leaning in close together to quietly discuss and point to things as they read the information they were given. Ryu sat in the middle with Gaara and Hikari on either side. A few times he saw them playfully bicker and one of them would slap the others pointing hand away. They were acting like this was a game. The older ninja felt anger towards the younger ninjas, this wasn't some low ranking mission they could half ass. They were talking about Sasuke's life being on the line. This mission had to work. Sasuke would never mean as much to him as Naruto had, Kakashi could admit that to himself, but he still cared about the boy who was once his student. Giving them one more glance, he saw them still goofing off. He turned back to the file, thinking their odds of returning with Sasuke were slim to none with this group... No, it was just looking worse and worse.

'_What were you thinking, Tsunade?' _He wondered, '_What were you thinking...'_


	3. Discussions

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. I do, however, own the plot to this story and Hikari.

**Summery:** It's strange how you don't realize how much you've ingrained someone into your life until they're gone. The village of Konoha found this to be true the day Uzumaki Naruto's light was put out. Now the Nine-tails is still showing no signs of reforming and the Leaf Village has hired a trio of unclaimed ninja to help retrieve Sasuke from Orochimaru, but the subtle similarities between the groups leader and Naruto are startling and Kakashi doesn't know how long he can handle this partnership before he finally loses his sanity.

**Rating:** T for now

Kakashi sighed heavily as he trudged up the stairs to his apartment located right next to Naruto's old place. He'd moved in next door after the funeral. Refusing to let the blonde boys apartment be changed even the slightest bit, he had chosen to keep an eye on the place by moving as close as he could without actually living in the apartment itself. There were days though, where he would go inside, lay on the boys floor, and stare around the room; telling himself that the smell of grass, ramen, and a lively spice, that was uniquely Naruto, wasn't overpowered by the musk of an unused room. Pretending his blonde student would walk in the door any minute and express his confusion on why his Sensei was in his home. After a few hours tears would slip from the corners of his eyes, leaving wet trails down to his hairline. No matter how much he wished, or how hard he begged, this was his reality, and he would never be able to change that.

Briefly, the Copy Nin considered going there now, but swiftly decided against it. He didn't have the energy to pretend things were different. Plus, today had been emotionally painful enough without adding to it. Between his nightmares, the visit to Naruto's grave, discussing Sasuke, and seeing Gaara(who he knew Naruto had become close to before his death), he was emotionally exhausted to the point of wanting to crawl in bed and not move for an indefinite amount of time.

As he closed in on his place he realized this wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Opening the door, Kakashi slipped inside and closed it behind him before leaning against it heavily. "Tsunade-sama," He greeted blankly, "I assume it must be important since you've made yourself at home, rather than calling me to your office."

Konoha's Hokage was seated on the brown faux leather chair, on the far side of the open living room. "We need to discuss this mission." She said plainly.

Another heavy sigh left the mans lips as he took a seat on the deep blue couch to her left, before waving his hand to show he was listening.

"This mission," She started, "Is...delicate, as you well know. On record it's an A-rank, but off record it's an S-rank. Although, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that either-"

"Tsunade-sama," Kakashi interrupted. "We both know what things I'm already aware of, so what did you really come here to discuss?"

Tsunade released her own heavy sigh, "I do not regret my decision to bring The Ōkami onto this mission, but I'm not naive enough to fully trust them. I need you to keep an eye on them. Don't...constrict them, but don't let them have full reign..."

The silver haired man observed her with a calculating look. "What all do we really know about this group, Tsunade-sama?"

"Unfortunately, not much. Gaara we know the most about; family name Sabaku, is the one tail's host, he is a formidable opponent-even more so now if his aura is anything to go by-and he left the Sand village on the one year anniversary of..." Her lips tightened briefly with concealed emotion before she continued. "Naruto's funeral." She cleared her throat,"Hikari is from the land of Snow. Her abilities are closely guarded, but she was considered something of a demon in her own right. Much like a jinchūriki."

A strong, slim hand brushed down her face,"The most concerning, though, is Ryu. He's like a ghost. No one knows where he came from, or what he's truly capable of... Then he...well, I'm sure you noticed..."

"His complete lack of a chakra signature?" Kakashi asked, finishing the sentence she left hanging. "Yes, I noticed... It's disturbing..." A silver eye stared blankly at the floor while thinking back to the black haired teen. "Not even his life force chakra was present. Even Gai and Lee have a life force chakra, and someone concealing their chakra should only be able to hold it for five to six hours at most. He held it easily in check without strain for ten hours. Not even our best Anbu can manage that. It's like he's dead on his feet..." Kakashi shook his head as if to dislodge the disturbed unease he felt.

She hummed, "That's a rather fitting description. A deadman walking..." The Hokage shook her head lightly,"How did the planing go?"

It was the mans turn to hum,"I respect you, Tsunade-sama, you know that, but this group...They don't seem to be taking this mission seriously. Are you sure this alliance is going to succeed?"

"Kakashi-san, I wouldn't have made this deal if it wasn't our best and only option. They may not act like it, but Ryu and his team know what they're doing. Records of their missions show only one failed assignment out of roughly two hundred.

Kakashi resisted the urge to sputter, "Two hundred? How is that possible? None of them could possibly be over the age of 16!"

"It is an awful lot...but it proves their efficiency and time management, both of which we need." She watched him carefully,"The planning?" She prompted him again.

A pale hand in a fingerless glove rubbed down his face in resignation,"It was...Interesting. Gaara was silent the entirety of the meeting, which wasn't very surprising, he seems to only talk when he deems it necessary. Hikari was very vocal. She firmly believes that our best bet is infiltrating the base Sasuke is hiding in, waiting until he is alone, and then distracting him long enough for one of us to incapacitate him. I tried to tell her that it wouldn't work on Sasuke with his sharingan, but she and her team mates refused to listen. They are determined the plan will work. Then, Ryu, despite being their apparent leader, spent half the time not listening to a word that was said; Hikari kept passing him notes to catch him back up when he couldn't answer a simple question about what we were discussing." He met the Hokage's eyes through the dark of the room for the first time that night,"I'm willing to trust you, Tsunade-sama, but I don't see how we could possibly be successful with what I've seen of them so far."

The blonde woman nodded tensely,"Tomorrow, take the first part of the day to acquaint yourself with their fighting styles, and the last half to finish up mission details and pack provisions. I wish there was more time to turn you six into a full-fledge team, but given our time constraints you'll have to make do with what time we have." She stood and regarded him, "I know you think they are being ignorant with the simple plan they have, but nothing we've tried has worked. I think it's time we try something different. So, give them a chance. Maybe a simple plan is what we've been missing." She made to leave when Kakashi spoke up.

"Tsunade-sama, have you heard anything from Jiraiya-sama?"

She looked back at him over her shoulder, "The Kyūbi has still not reformed, but old texts say the fourth year is the most likely time for a reformation. Jiraiya is sure it will happen soon. Unfortunately, the Akatsuki are just as sure as he is, and they have been stalking around in wait. I've sent reinforcements, but it's still a waiting game... So, there is no real change." Looking forward again she addressed him once more."Get some sleep, Kakashi." She said, dropping the honorifics, "You look exhausted."

With that, Tsunade left and Kakashi was left to stew over her words. Maybe she was right. Maybe they needed to try something different to bring Sasuke back to Konoha. At least this he could deal with, the situation with the Kyūbi, though, was completely different. He knew that the return of the Kyūbi was desperately needed, but he hated the reminder that Naruto was gone. He had too many reminders already.

Once news had gotten out about the death of their Jinchūriki, Konoha's enemies had wasted no time in trying to bring them to their knees. Their superior Ninja had won out in the end, but there were still losses. Two years after they began their enemies finally realized Konoha's strength was not reliant upon having a Jinchūriki in their midst, and they had put a halt to their assault.

He stood from the couch, thoughts returning to his current mission. Making his way to his shower he stripped, turning the temperature high enough to burn. The heat rained down on his muscles and he slowly began to relax. She wasn't wrong when she said none of their more complicated plans had panned out. Would it really be such a bad idea to go with what the Ōkami believed to be their best option?

Kakashi leaned forward letting the stream of water focus on the base of his neck. This was their last shot... He brought a pale hand to his forehead, brushing his fingers through his wet hair. Tsunade-sama believed these kids were their best chance. Could he really argue? He knew he couldn't, dammit.

As much as he didn't like it, they were going to do this their way.

Dammit, they were going to put their trust in a trio of kids and he hoped to god he wasn't going to regret this.


	4. Underestimating

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. I do, however, own the plot to this story and Hikari.

**Summery:** It's strange how you don't realize how much you've ingrained someone into your life until they're gone. The village of Konoha found this to be true the day Uzumaki Naruto's light was put out. Now the Nine-tails is still showing no signs of reforming and the Leaf Village has hired a trio of unclaimed ninja to help retrieve Sasuke from Orochimaru, but the subtle similarities between the groups leader and Naruto are startling and Kakashi doesn't know how long he can handle this partnership before he finally loses his sanity.

**Rating:** T for now

* * *

><p>The next day found the newly put together team standing on one of Konoha's training grounds. Sunlight bathed the area and a warm summer breeze wafted across the field in the early morning. The six ninja stood awkwardly facing each other.<p>

"So how are we doing this?" Ryu inquired.

Kakashi looked to the bandana wearing boy,"Since I am fairly confident in Gaara's capabilities, I'd like to focus on yours and Hikari's. I've matched you four up based on my impressions of you two."

There was a brief pause before he added, "I hope you don't mind." Although, his tone suggested he didn't really care if they did mind. Ryu simply tilted his head in response as he watched the older ninja. He seemed to be puzzling him out in a way that somewhat unnerved the silver haired man.

"So what pairings have you chosen?" Hikari spoke up, amethyst eyes sparkling with excitement.

The older ninja turned his head to the overly chipper snow haired girl,"I've paired you against Sakura." He nodded to the pink haired Kunoichi on his left. "And Ryu will face Sai."

"We'll go first," Sakura interjected eagerly, wanting to show her strength.

"Perfect" Hikari said. Smirks suddenly gracing Ryu and Hikari's lips made Kakashi feel they were underestimating the green eyed girl. After a moment longer the four males moved to the side of the field to watch the two females spar.

Once they were clear of the fight zone Kakashi raised his voice to be heard."You can begin whenever, but remember, no lasting damage. We all leave on our mission tomorrow and it's going to be hard enough without adding an injured comrade to our list of disadvantages."

Hikari and Sakura nodded their understanding as they sized each other up. Their bodies tensed slightly in anticipation. The 30 seconds it took before the girls made their first moves seemed longer than it was. Muscles coiled and sprang as they rushed forward. Hikari's brown gloved fist swung forward to meet Sakura's black, sending a chakra fueled shock wave rippling through the air. A slight grunt escaped the snow haired girl as the force of Sakura's blow pushed her arm back and sent her spinning through the air before she twisted her feet back underneath her.

Sliding across the ground on the balls of her feet she shoved her hand into the dirt to stop her body's momentum. Kakashi squinted in sympathy, he knew exactly what hitting fist to fist with Sakura felt like, but he couldn't resist the satisfaction he felt over how surprised the team must be over seeing their friend go flying.

Standing up, Hikari spread her fingers wide before shaking out her hand. She hummed lightly as she regarded the pink haired female in front of her and a grin formed on her face.

A frown drew Kakashi's brows together in confusion at the grin, until he saw Sakura staring in shock at her limp arm. _How had that happened?_ Sakura held her arm trying to heal the damage and having no he had underestimated this team more than he thought. His sudden intrigue was hidden behind his mask and the hitai-ate covering his left eye. A glance to his right showed a proudly grinning Ryu resting his arm on Gaara's shoulder. Kakashi contemplated their response silently. He was used to Ninja of their labeling being cocky when a member of their team was stronger than their opponent, but the raven and the red head held no trace of arrogance. If anything they just looked ridiculously proud of their teammate. It was unusual to see.

A noise of frustration from Sakura brought his attention back to the girls. Even though this was a semi-friendly sparing match, Sakura wasn't just going to give up. There was a time when she might have sat down in the middle of a fight and cried over not being strong enough. Now, she would fight until she had no more to give. He had seen the beginning of her fiery spirit in the Chūnin exams against her rival Yamanaka Ino, but after losing both her teammates she was determined to be her best and never give up. He had never seen her cry harder than the day Naruto died, and when Sasuke left her behind too-Well...l... Sakura had overcome a lot, and the first strike leaving her with an unusable arm was like waving a sign in her face and screaming "not good enough!"

Hikari must have seen the same angry, determined glint in Sakura's green eyes that he had, because she shifted to a more defensive posture. Sakura sprang forward again, her fist slamming into Hikari's forearms as she raised them to keep the blow from hitting her face. Blow after blow was struck at the Ōkami's only female member, but she blocked and shoved to the side each one. It became a dance of fast punches and kicks as they concentrated on hand to hand combat; chakra infused into their movements. Being down an arm was no doubt a disadvantage for Sakura, but she quickly adapted to using her legs and arm in a way that made up for the useless limb swinging at her side. Kakashi felt pride at her ability to adapt her fighting style.

A brief break in Sakura's defenses allowed Hikari to land both palms to Sakura's chest, pushing her back enough to land a solid kick to her head. With the pink haired teen on the ground, Hikari put some distance between them.

Sakura quickly jumped back to her feet, shifted her hips, and slammed her fist into the ground. The ground broke apart, shooting upwards and sending Hikari flying through the air. She landed heavy on her side, rolling across the ground before coming to a halt. She lay still for a beat before she coughed, pushing up on her hands and dragged her knees underneath her. No doubt the breath had been knocked from her lungs with that landing.

Kakashi glanced over to her teammates. Ryu looked impressed, but seemed to have expected this fight to go somewhat like this, as there was no surprise in his expression. The boy's muscles were tense though, and Kakashi followed the line of his strong muscles to see him gripping Gaara's arm in a tight, restraining grasp. In contrast to Ryu, Gaara was barely refraining from moving onto the field. His body was stiff and leaning forward about to step towards the slender girl, now resting on her knees. Bringing his gaze to the ex-Sand Ninja's face, Kakashi saw the intense narrow of his turquoise eyes, while he watched her intently. The silver haired man would guess he was searching for any major damage before his glaring eyes snapped to Ryu with a dangerous glint. A glint even Kakashi found unnerving.

Ryu shared a stare-down with the red head before he rolled his eyes. He sighed, in what Kakashi would guess was exasperation, before he called out,"Hey! I happen to like your face."

Trying to decipher that comment, the Copy Nin turned back to see Hikari give him a nod before using the acquired space to quickly yanked her arm length gloves off, leaving her pale skin bare from her biceps down to her finger tips. Eyes narrowing, Kakashi instinctively lifted his Hitai-ate and open his mismatched eye, revealing his sharingan. Somehow he knew he was going to want a better look at what was about to happen.

Sakura surged forward with a fresh burst of chakra fueled blows, now colored green thanks to the Uchiha vision. Hikari blocked each one, pushing out short flares of lavender chakra with each contact. An attempt at reducing the force of the hits, is what Kakashi thought, until he began to see the effects each burst of purple produced. They were little things: fingers unable to fully curl into a fist, legs not working properly, an eyelid refusing to open up. He watched closer, seeing each flare connect with Sakura's chakra and shoot through her body almost invisibly.

He watched as each girl slowed just slightly in their attacks; Sakura desperately trying to keep herself moving, and Hikari panting hard with a grimace of pain across her face. A small concentration of chakra began gathering in the snow haired girl's palm. One more small zap gave her an opening to jump forward and lightly tap her chakra laced palm against Sakura's face.

The green eyed girl dropped to the ground like a rock and didn't move, leaving a paralyzing silence across the field.

Kakashi blinked,_"What the hell just happened?"_

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><p><em><strong>AN: **_I'm so sorry! I'm a terrible person for making you wait so long! You guys have full permission to hate me. As always this is unbeta'd so all mistakes are my own. If you see any please let me know. Also, thank you for all the support!


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